For suddenly, I can see the magic of books!
I think that my penchant for British detective novels may be getting a little out of hand. I just read the following in Elizabeth Peters' The Curse of the Pharaohs, the second Amelia Peabody mystery, which I am thoroughly enjoying:
"...Murders are solved by determining the motive. The principal suspects are those who have most to gain by the victim's death. Here we have four victims--for I certainly do include Hassan--and, consequently, a confusing plethora of motives."
And I was like, wait, no, you have to figure out the HOW before you can figure out the WHY. Wasn't that what Lord Peter always said to Harriet Vane when she, as a writer of detective stories, kept jumping from murder to motive without considering how it was all done first? Or am I making that up?
I also bought Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone at Barnes and Noble (used books are divine, but there's something really delicious about those B&N classics bindings), and then Hangman's Holiday and one by P.D. James at the library book sale (the usual one--there is also a colossal winter book sale on my birthday next weekend!). *sighs*
I was thinking about it, and I think I have almost read more Sayers books than I have Austen or John Irving, or anybody else, for that matter. Let me think about this...
Dorothy L. Sayers
Strong Poison
Have His Carcase
Gaudy Night
Busman's Honeymoon
Whose Body?
Murder Must Advertise
Clouds of Witness
John Irving
The Cider House Rules
The Hotel New Hampshire
The World According to Garp
A Widow for One Year
A Prayer for Owen Meany
The Fourth Hand
Until I Find You
J.K. Rowling (does this really count? *sighs*)
Sorcerer's Stone
Chamber of Secrets
Prisoner of Azkaban
Goblet of Fire
Order of the Phoenix
Half-Blood Prince
Deathly Hallows
Jasper Fforde
The Eyre Affair
Lost in a Good Book
The Well of Lost Plots
Something Rotten
First Among Sequels
The Big Over-Easy
The Fourth Bear
Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
Mansfield Park
Emma
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
E.M. Forster
Howards End
A Room With a View
A Passage to India
Maurice
The Longest Journey
Where Angels Fear to Tread
Philip Pullman
The Golden Compass
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass
The Ruby in the Smoke
The Shadow in the North
The Tiger in the Well
L.M. Montgomery
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island
Anne of Windy Poplars
Anne's House of Dreams
So I guess it's not quite true...it's a tie between Sayers, Irving, Rowling and Fforde, with Austen (left out of the lead only by the quantity of her output--I guess I could even it up by reading Sanditon or Lady Susan, but even I don't care that much)and Forster and Pullman in second, and Montgomery in third (I'm sure I've read five books by some other author, but I can't think of who at the moment. God, this is a nerdy pursuit.
~Anne
Then all of a sudden, he said
That I couldn't go wrong with The Way of All Flesh.
Of course, it's a novel, but I didn't know
Or I certainly wouldn't have smacked him!
"...Murders are solved by determining the motive. The principal suspects are those who have most to gain by the victim's death. Here we have four victims--for I certainly do include Hassan--and, consequently, a confusing plethora of motives."
And I was like, wait, no, you have to figure out the HOW before you can figure out the WHY. Wasn't that what Lord Peter always said to Harriet Vane when she, as a writer of detective stories, kept jumping from murder to motive without considering how it was all done first? Or am I making that up?
I also bought Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone at Barnes and Noble (used books are divine, but there's something really delicious about those B&N classics bindings), and then Hangman's Holiday and one by P.D. James at the library book sale (the usual one--there is also a colossal winter book sale on my birthday next weekend!). *sighs*
I was thinking about it, and I think I have almost read more Sayers books than I have Austen or John Irving, or anybody else, for that matter. Let me think about this...
Dorothy L. Sayers
Strong Poison
Have His Carcase
Gaudy Night
Busman's Honeymoon
Whose Body?
Murder Must Advertise
Clouds of Witness
John Irving
The Cider House Rules
The Hotel New Hampshire
The World According to Garp
A Widow for One Year
A Prayer for Owen Meany
The Fourth Hand
Until I Find You
J.K. Rowling (does this really count? *sighs*)
Sorcerer's Stone
Chamber of Secrets
Prisoner of Azkaban
Goblet of Fire
Order of the Phoenix
Half-Blood Prince
Deathly Hallows
Jasper Fforde
The Eyre Affair
Lost in a Good Book
The Well of Lost Plots
Something Rotten
First Among Sequels
The Big Over-Easy
The Fourth Bear
Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
Mansfield Park
Emma
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
E.M. Forster
Howards End
A Room With a View
A Passage to India
Maurice
The Longest Journey
Where Angels Fear to Tread
Philip Pullman
The Golden Compass
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass
The Ruby in the Smoke
The Shadow in the North
The Tiger in the Well
L.M. Montgomery
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island
Anne of Windy Poplars
Anne's House of Dreams
So I guess it's not quite true...it's a tie between Sayers, Irving, Rowling and Fforde, with Austen (left out of the lead only by the quantity of her output--I guess I could even it up by reading Sanditon or Lady Susan, but even I don't care that much)and Forster and Pullman in second, and Montgomery in third (I'm sure I've read five books by some other author, but I can't think of who at the moment. God, this is a nerdy pursuit.
~Anne
Then all of a sudden, he said
That I couldn't go wrong with The Way of All Flesh.
Of course, it's a novel, but I didn't know
Or I certainly wouldn't have smacked him!